Despite not being a social platform, Spotify has taken a page from TikTok's book in a bid to increase engagement through the introduction of vertical feeds for music discovery.

According to some users, Spotify is testing music discovery features with vertical feeds, wherein videos can be liked as you scroll through the feed. Building on its existing Canvas feature, the new discovery feature makes use of the existing videos that artists play alongside their music on Spotify.

If Spotify decides to push this limited feature to everyone, here's how it might affect its users

What a Music Discovery Vertical Feed Might Mean for Spotify Users

There's one key reason why Spotify may be attempting to shift its discovery feature to a vertical feed—ads. While there are ways to silence Spotify ads without hurting artist earnings, the introduction of the vertical feed may solve several ad-related problems for Spotify at once.

First, users who browse using music discovery are already looking with an intent to expand their library. By adding paid promotions alongside legitimate suggestions, Spotify artists can promote their new songs and albums more effectively with music video visuals.

Related: Which Spotify Subscription Is Best for You?

Second, Spotify Free ads are historically plugged in between music listening sessions. Often, these ads are considered intrusive, especially because users can't skip them. With a vertical feed, ads can still give impressions, while allowing users to quickly swipe to the next video.

Lastly, TikTok-like vertical feeds may also open the possibility of real-time sentiment tracking. Through its like button, Spotify can further refine its recommendation algorithm by paying attention to how many listeners like its current suggestions.

Is the TikTok-ifcation of Spotify a Bad Thing?

Spotify on iPhone Featured image

While the verdict is still out there on if every platform can benefit from TikTok's success, Spotify is in a unique position to make it work. Unlike TikTok and other short-video platforms, Spotify is already engaged with artists on the rights of use for their music.

For this reason, the music discovery vertical feed holds a lot of potential both from a promotional and content creation perspective. Should Spotify want to create another channel for artists to engage new fans such as tease upcoming albums or music videos, the vertical feed may just be the perfect way to do it.

Or, just like it's limited Snapchat-style story feature test that never got a full release, Spotify can just shrug and say it doesn't work for it.